The Dog Life
by Bane7567
Summary: Bolt has been reunited with Penny, they have quit the show, and the whole family is together. But this doesn't ensure a happy ending. Bolt will have to adjust as Penny grows older, but how will it effect him? Multi-plot story. Rated K plus for now.


Prologue

"Look at me, Bolt," Mittens yelled to the dog below her, climbing onto the roof of a rusted, abandoned pickup truck in the middle of a Las Vegas plain. "_Look_ at me, I'm _real_."

Bolt sighed, "Yes, I know Mittens, I see..."

"Now look at this," Mittens interrupted, climbing onto the billboard above, advertising the Bolt television series. "Does this look, at all, real to you?" She gestured to different parts of the board, first to the picture of Calico. "Does that look real to you?"

"Well, no, but..." Bolt started.

But Mittens continued, pointing to the motorcycle launching rockets at Bolt. "Or that? Does that look real? Or _that_?" Mittens came to Bolt's picture, with green lasers shooting from both eyes. "Does that look the slightest bit real to you?"

"_NO_, Mittens!" Bolt blurted. "Not at all."

"Okay," she responded, coming to the picture of Penny. "How about this? Does this look real?" Actually, yes. It did. It was about the only realistic part of the entire billboard. "Well, it's not. She's an actress, Bolt. It's not real. She's just pretending."

Bolt wouldn't believe this, he couldn't. "No, not Penny."

"There is no Penny," Mittens explained. "She, just like everything else you see, is _fake_!"

Bolt still wouldn't believe it, _That's not true. I know she's real_, "No! You're wrong, she loves me," he declared. "She does."

"No, Bolt! No!" Mittens kept trying to convince him. "No, she's just pretending to love you, that's what humans do." Mittens started letting her anger take over. "They act like they love you, they act like they're going to be there forever. And then, _boom_! One day they pack up their things, and move away, taking their love _with them_, just leaving their de-clawed cat behind to _fend for herself_!"

Both Bolt and Mittens gasped at her sudden outburst. Bolt now knew why Mittens didn't trust people beyond table scraps. "They leave her...wondering, what she did wrong..." she finished.

But was this all true between him and Penny? No, it couldn't be. Could it? Would Penny toss him aside? He didn't like to think about it, but he still wondered, They hadn't actually played for over a year, now not since the show started and he became a bit paranoid about the "green-eyed man". And Penny hadn't showed too much love beyond feeding him and an occasional pat or kiss on the head. But...no. She hadn't pushed him out for the show, he pushed her out! He still remembered that she tried to play with him afterwards, but he was too busy "protecting" her, he had become too obsessed with the show to spend time with her. It was his own fault, not hers. "Well..." he started, finally. "I'm sorry Mittens, but Penny's different. I _know_ she is."

Mittens stared down at the ground, "Then go..." she said bitterly. Bolt tried to explain to her. "Get out of here, Bolt!" She turned away from him. "I knew I shouldn't have taken pity on you..." she muttered.

Bolt sighed, "Mittens, I know, you don't like this, but..."

"Just _get out of here_, Bolt!" she yelled, without looking at him.

She continued to stare at the ground for a few silent moments as she figured Bolt was walking away. _So much for a happy life together, why would he go back to the place that took away over a quarter of his life? After all the time with me and Rhino? What's so special about that Penny character? Why can't he just see... _"Take care Mittens, and...thank you." She heard Bolt say.

She still didn't look at him, she figured that after all the time they had spent together, he would just want to stay with her. She waited until she was sure he had gone, she quickly checked the area, he was nowhere to be seen. "Bye wags," she whispered, and slowly walked back to the alley.

* * *

Mittens stared down at the "plate" of food in front of her. It simply wasn't the same without Bolt. She merely pushed it away, when she heard Rhino groggily wake up and roll towards her, mentioning something about a "meat-lovers pizza". She smiled vaguely, "Hey there, Rhino," she greeted.

"Morning cat," he responded as usual, rubbing his eyes and looking around. "Where's Bolt?"

She sighed, hoping that wouldn't be the first thing he'd ask. "He uh..." she said. "He's gone."

Rhino opened his eyes a bit more. "Bolt...left?"

"Yeah, but..." Mittens quickly thought of something to say before he thought she had "disposed of him." "He...instructed me, to tell you, that...he had to face the green-eyed man alone."

The hamster looked down for a moment, then he turned around and began rolling out of the alley. "Whoa, where are you going?" she asked, confused.

"To Bolt," he answered.

"But...he doesn't need us...anymore."

The hamster scoffed, "Oh please, I've seen it a million times before." For some reason, Mittens believed that. "In the dark night before the battle, when the fangs of evil are sharpened and poised to strike..." _Yeah yeah, skip to the point._ Mittens thought, impatiently. "But if Bolt's taught me anything, it's that you never abandon a friend in a time of need." Rhino continued down the alleyway saying heroically. "When your teammate's in trouble, you go. Whether they ask or not, you go, not knowing if you're coming back dead or alive..."

"He went the other way, hero," Mittens pointed out as the hamster went out of sight.

"You go!" he continued, changing his direction. "Knowing how deep the shrapnel's going to pierce your hide, you go!"

Mittens looked down. _It's his choice, he wants to go there but...why should I?_ The answer struck her immediately. She sighed. _He came back for me. I have to do the same for him._ With that, she quickly ran after Rhino.

_A/N. Sorry to say this story won't be updated until I have completed my current story (I'm not good at multi-tasking). But, hope you like it so far!_


End file.
